Erwin Santos, whose family runs a prominent Filipino grocery store in Jersey City, speaks to Open City about dried mangos, hot dogs and fish sauce, as well as a special overseas customer base and a hope for Filipino food to someday receive the recognition other Asian foods enjoy.

Eileen Formanes left her job and started selling reinvented forms of bibingka, a Filipino rice cake eaten during Christmas. In the Filipino community, however, taking such a risk is far from common, finds The FilAm, which covered a gathering of community members interested in “innovation and entrepreneurship.”

All-Natural Calamansi juice, made from the calamansi citrus fruit, doesn’t just offer Filipinos a taste of home, it’s one of only a few products with Filipino origins to make a foray into the American market, reports The FilAm, which explains the significance of the fruit to the Philippines.

Rolando Lavarro has become the first Filipino American to not only serve on City Council in New Jersey’s second-largest city, but also to hold an elected position in the municipality. A Filipino Reporter editorial applauds the election results and presents a list of “demands” on the part of the community.

The FilAm speaks to the Philippine Consulate’s Deputy Consul General, who laments the lack of political engagement among the community. One Filipino, however, hopes to change that as he becomes the first of his community to aspire for a City Council seat.

Was it community betrayal or pure politics that caused Jersey City’s first Filipino council member to reject the nomination of the city’s first Filipino chief judge, thereby turning “nay” into the majority vote? Local Filipino publications point towards politics, but for some in the community, the missed opportunity remains disappointing.

New Yorkers will get a taste of Philippine history this fall with the premiere of “Noli Me Tángere: The Opera,” the first full-length Filipino grand opera, reports The FilAm. The opera is based on a novel by the Philippines’ national hero Dr. José Rizal.

A Filipina maid, who was brought to the U.S. by a diplomat who made her work 20-hour days for a few dollars pay, has reached a settlement with her former employer, reports The FilAm. The story points to a growing problem of domestic workers being exploited by diplomats.

The recently opened Filipino chain Jollibee in Jersey City serves more than just American-influenced fast food, it takes patrons back home to the Philippines with ube-flavored milkshakes and banana-made ketchup. But has the United States stepped too far into Filipino food culture?

As the White House urged Congress to withhold $600 million in nutrition assistance to Puerto Rico, officials responded angrily that this is only the latest in a series of President Trump’s attempts to stop the flow of federal aid to the island, El Nuevo Día reports. Political analyst Domingo Emanuelli found the Trump government's actions “barbaric,” and urged Puerto Rican Republicans to reconsider their allegiance. San Juan Mayor Carmen Yulín Cruz said: “I shouted against Trump’s abuses from the start while others were chummy with him. Trump is not the plantation owner and we are not his slaves.” Link to original story →

The Indigenous Peoples March being held in Washington, D.C. on Jan. 18, a day ahead of the Women's March, will bring together groups from Puerto Rico to South America and Central America, reports Remezcla, to focus attention on issues from voter suppression to human trafficking to police brutality to what is called an “environmental holocaust” by activists. “I think it’s a collective cry for help because we’re in a time of crisis that we have not seen in a very long time,” says Nathalie Farfan, an Ecuadorean Indigenous woman and event organizer. Link to original story →

After vowing to create a more inclusive school system in North Carolina, the Durham Board of Education introduced a new department of second language services to serve newly-arrived immigrants who don’t speak English as a first language, Qué Pasa Noticias reports. One of the main goals of the initiative will be to coordinate a translation and interpretation system to help families participate in their children’s education. “As our Latinx population keeps growing we keep opening our schools’ doors to those arriving from all over the world,” said Superintendent Pascal Mubenga. Link to original story →

With Sen. Kamala Harris expected to announce her decision on a presidential run, The American Bazaar asks members of the Indian-American community about the potential candidacy of the California native. While some celebrated the possibility of Harris, who is of Jamaican-Indian descent, running amid the current political atmosphere, others say the country is "still not ready for a female president and certainly not a non-white." Link to original story →